Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Dehydrating Foods-Part 3

This is Food Dehydrating Part 3.  If you haven't yet seen parts 1 and 2, they are available on the blog..... there area also links to them at the bottom of this post.  In those posts, I discussed dehydrators, different foods that can be dehydrated, and more.In this 3rd part, I want to try to finish up this series.....I think. :) 

Another experiment I did was to take some of the dehydrated foods and grind them up in a coffee grinder to make them very fine. I did this with the limes to make a LIME POWDER and it smelled amazing........it can be used in smoothies, make a drink mix using the powder and stevia, or add flavor to foods like cake batter. It is shown here in the little bags...........

I also made some BEEF POWDER by grinding up some of the beef jerky.........it also smelled great and can be used to flavor soups and gravies or more.

The TOMATO POWDER was great for soups and sauces.

The STRAWBERRY POWDER smelled so good! Also great for smoothies, drink mixes, granola, cake batter and more. One thing to remember about the powders is that the smaller particles of the dehydrated foods, as in the powder, will need to be used up sooner as they will lose their nutrient value and flavor more quickly than the regular dehydrated foods. They sure are handy though, and I need to experiment more with how I want to use them.......and preserve them since they are very helpful.

I also dehydrated SPAGHETTI SAUCE with the idea of rehydrating it when needed for a quick food item. It worked well. I put little blobs (about a tablespoon or so) on the plastic trays and lids. When dry, these just peel off.

Another very nice item is FRUIT LEATHER. This was a HUGE hit in my house. The nice thing about making it myself was that it had no sugar at all in it........only fruit. I made some with applesauce and some with strawberries. When using the strawberries, I blended whole strawberries, green tops and all-after they were washed, of course! The strawberry flavor was so strong and no one could tell there were strawberry tops in there. I also mixed applesauce and blended strawberries and all were greatly enjoyed. This is something we will certainly do again as it is a great travel snack.....we carried some with us when hiking and it tasted wonderful, was refreshing and was very easy to carry. After making it on the plastic trays, the fruit peels off and can be rolled in plastic wrap. This will not last forever and should be used in a reasonable amount of time unless you do some long term storage of it, which would be different than just wrapping it.......you would need to do some research to check that out. This fruit leather picture is from current time, which is after 1 1/2 years of storage - I didn't have any pictures of it when fresh. It is a bit dryer than at the beginning and the flavor is not as strong - I would definitely want to use it up quicker or wrap it better .......and maybe freeze it.

KEFIR SMOOTHIE "LEATHER" wasn't as big of a hit, but it worked okay and is something I would do again. Like I said.....I was experimenting. :)


Now, for some pictures of the dehydrated foods when they were fresh..........and again 1 1/2 years later so that you can see the difference in the looks.................




These are some of the pictures of the freshly dried items...........dried in July of 2012.















This starts the pictures of the same dehydrated foods (the ones left!!! :)..............taken Feb 18, 2014 - 1 1/2 years later.


The mixed vegetables look good and the quality is very good.



The peas are also good...




 The limes are still browned as they were at the beginning, so I wasn't too hopeful about them.....but when I opened the jar, that wonderful citrus-y smell was there, so we tried them.......eating them was not like eating a fresh lime, but the taste is tart and good. This is something we will do again.


    The oranges still look good, smell GREAT, and when I tasted it today...........taste good. :)   These are wonderful and we will definitely do this again - the only problem is that the dried oranges take up quite a bit of room in the jar, as you can see.


The broccoli also good......both kinds....


The strawberries are good and smell good and taste good.........they would be better if treated with lemon juice first, so I will do that next time, but these are definitely still good and very useful. They do not pack the "punch" they had when first dehydrated, but are still very good.


The peppers and onions have lasted well......

The shredded zucchini is okay, but has lost some color and flavor.........remember what I said earlier about the smaller pieces deteriorating more quickly. Also, these would be better if blanched first, which I did not do. 


The tomatoes still look great - the color is good.......and the smell is also great. :)  


The cheese is good - has good color, smell and taste.


The mashed potatoes have darkened a bit, but not terribly so.


The potato chunks (not pictured) have turned darker......they still smell good, but they look so dark that I do not plan to use them.....I will need to figure out how to preserve them better and halt the enzyme action better. 


   The pineapple is a success! Opening the jar smelled so good......and the taste was wonderful.



The color hasn't changed much.......













All in all, most items have lasted quite well. The reason I state it like this is that for the most part, I didn't use any special means of saving these - just dehydrated them and put them into jars and closed them up, storing them in a cool, dark place for the last 1 1/2 years. With the retention of quality with this little bit of care, imagine how good the quality would be if you added even more care to it.....like using the Oxygen absorber packets or vacuum seal them. Again, I say that dehydrating is a wonderful skill to learn.

Whether you need to preserve an abundance of food that has ripened all at once or some that has been on a great sale, this is a wonderful way to do so. You can also make healthy snacks for your family and more.

I hope you are convinced that dehydrating is a skill that doesn't need to be intimidating and I hope you will try it. Whether you can afford an expensive dehydrator or not..........you can even dehydrate in your oven or make a simple solar dryer from instructions on the internet. For me, this opens so many possibilities in food preservation, saving money and preparing good food for my family.

Thank you for visiting my blog and following this series.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dehydrating Series:

Dehydrating Foods Part 1

Dehydrating Foods Part 2

Dehydrating Foods Part 3
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shared on...............

From the Farm
Hearts For Home
Our Simple Homestead Blog Hop
Thriving On Thursday
Wake Up Wednesday
Making A Home
Teach Me Tuesday
Tuesday Garden Party
Tuesday Talk
Roses of Inspiration
Art of Homemaking Mondays
Mostly Homemade Monday
Good Morning Monday
Modest Mom
Wildcrafting Wednesday
Homestead Barn Hop
Weekend Potluck
The Art of Homemaking Mondays
Tuesdays With A Twist
Simple Saturday





32 comments:

  1. Wonderful post with lots of info! thanks for posting. <3

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  2. The variety of foods that you dried absolutely amazed me. Mashed potatoes? Spaghetti sauce? Who knew?

    Laura of Harvest Lane Cottage

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    1. Like I said.........I experiment a lot!!! :) There really is so much that can be done with a dehydrator - such a useful tool. Thank you for visiting.

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  3. This is amazing, I never would think to dehydrate refried beans! So interesting! Thanks for sharing!:)

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    1. Thank you............I probably wouldn't have either except for wanting to find some foods that were already cooked and ready to eat when just rehydrated, without actual cooking....and getting ready for the class - I need to dry more of these. Thank you for visiting.....:)

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  4. I'm so glad to see how pretty the food still looks after a year and a half! And glad to hear they still taste good as well. You are such a fabulous homemaker.....
    :)
    hugs x, Crystelle
    Crystelle Boutique

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    1. Thank you.....I am pleased at how they are after 1 1/2 years......and am excited that with a little more preparation (like Oxygen remover packets and vacuum sealing) - they would do EVEN better! :) Thank you for visiting.

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  5. Thank you so much for stopping by and linking up with my NO RULES Weekend Blog Party!! Nice to have you :)

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  6. I never realized that you could dehydrate so many different foods. I have always canned and froze the food I put up. I am going to try drying some of them this season. Thanks

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    1. I am sorry to be so late in replying. I have been finding that dehydrating is wonderfully useful and it sure helps. :)

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  7. Wow, that is so interesting and amazing. I never thought to dehydrate spaghetti sauce or beef jerky. The lime powder sounds like a great addition for smoothies and desserts! Thanks so much for sharing with my Small victories Sunday linky. Pinning to my linky Awesomeness board and sharing on Twitter!

    Hope you return next week and link up some more of your posts.

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    1. I am sorry to be so late in responding to your wonderful comment. Some of these things are new for me in dehydrating also... I like to experiment and am finding more and more ways to use dehydrating. Thank you for visiting and for pinning and sharing.

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  8. I am so curious about dehydrating food! I am on the hunt for a dehydrator and cannot wait to try this!

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    1. I am sorry to be so late in replying to your comment. I hope you have been able to find a dehydrator and are enjoying drying some foods. It is a wonderful skill to have. :)

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  9. Thanks for sharing on Tuesdays With a Twist. I have garlic growing that I want to turn into minced garlic. At this point I have not done any research, but was thinking maybe it has to be dehydrated?

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    1. I am sorry to be so late in replying to your comment. I use dehydrated garlic (minced), but I have not dehydrated it myself. I know it can be done, but am not sure if it needs to be blanched first or if it can just be done without any other preparation. That is something I would like to do also. Thank you for visiting.

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  10. This great post is being featured on my blog as part of the Tuesdays with a Twist blog hop! If you get a chance, please stop by and grab a featured button: godsgrowinggarden.com
    Thanks
    Angie

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    1. I am so sorry to be so late in responding to your comment. Thank you for the feature... what a blessing. Thank you for visiting.

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  11. Wow, I am very excited to try some new things now!!! I have a 10 tray and really need to take advantage of it! Thanks again for the inspiration and for sharing it on the Art of Home-Making Mondays! :)

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    1. I am so sorry to be so late in responding to your comment. I hope you have started dehydrating foods and are enjoying doing so... it is such a help. Thank you for visiting.

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  12. Wow, I really enjoyed reading this post and seeing all the pictures. That is amazing the food last so long. We made some venison jerky a couple years ago and it was so good. Our dehydrator is broken now, but hopefully we can get another one soon. Thank you for sharing. Blessings, ~Sarah (visiting from Radical Femininity)

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    1. Thank you... it is amazing... and so helpful to have the dehydrated foods on hand. I need to do more dehydrating this year also. :) I hope you are able to find a "new" or "new to you" dehydrator... I bought all of mine at garage sales. Thank you for visiting. :)

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  13. Thanks for this series filled with great Iinformation. We began dehydrating a couple years ago with peppers from our garden. You have so many interesting "must try" ideas. :)

    Visiting from Roses of Inspiration link up.

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    1. Thank you. Peppers are a great thing to have on hand... so nice to have dried ones to put into soups and casseroles. :) I hope I get enough in the garden this year to do that for my family also. :) Thank you for visiting.

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  14. Wow, who knew that you could dehydrate spaghetti sauce! This was an excellent post, my friend. I am learning new things every day :)

    Thanks for sharing with Roses of Inspiration. Have a lovely day!

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    1. Thank you, Stephanie... actually I didn't know you could either, but I DO love to experiment and I enjoy learning new things. :) Thank you for visiting.

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  15. This is so cool! I really like the powders & the dried spaghetti sauce was neat - I wouldn't have thought of that! I need to get my dehydrator back out & start MY experiments again!

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    1. Good idea.. experimenting can make us come up w/ some oddities or goofs, BUT it can also help us come up with a LOT of winners. :)

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  16. Wow you are amazing what you do and the full jars look great. I will have to put in an order for a decent dehydrator, thanks for sharing at Good Morning Mondays, Blessings

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    1. Thank you... it is a blessing to have those full jars... all of that food ready to be used. :) It doesn't take long to use it with my size family, though. I'm glad you will be getting a dehydrator... they are such a blessing. :)

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